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Jv33-head and print advice needed

MurphyPrinter

New Member
Recently i have run into an issue where my jv33 starts printing blurry on straight line edges. Below please see images of the print quality and the head. Do you think I need a new head? Is it normal for a head to look like this? Any advice will be great. I have tried all alignments but it seems that it’s not getting better. If I print in slow bi directional it still has a blurry effect
 

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MurphyPrinter

New Member
Recently i have run into an issue where my jv33 starts printing blurry on straight line edges. Below please see images of the print quality and the head. Do you think I need a new head? Is it normal for a head to look like this? Any advice will be great. I have tried all alignments but it seems that it’s not getting better. If I print in slow bi directional it still has a blurry effect
Also would anyone know why when printing the printer tries to print a very feint line in the right side. You can see it in some of the photos. The head will go back and forth on a spot where there is no print even needed.
 

DL Signs

Never go against the family
That head looks like it's seen better days, and is very dirty... Start with a soak and a good proper cleaning, might help.
What do the test prints look like, that tells us more than these, post some pics of those.
If it's printing lines on the edge, you may have the color strip turned on, it'll print 4 color lines down the edge. That's set in the rip software. It could also mean an electronics issue.
 

MurphyPrinter

New Member
That head looks like it's seen better days, and is very dirty... Start with a soak and a good proper cleaning, might help.
What do the test prints look like, that tells us more than these, post some pics of those.
If it's printing lines on the edge, you may have the color strip turned on, it'll print 4 color lines down the edge. That's set in the rip software. It could also mean an electronics issue.
Thanks for the reply. Here is a test print
 

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Neil

New Member
I think the test print looks okay.
The cap isn't lining up to the underside of the head well. Strangely, it's out in the north south direction, not east/west (Y axis).
AFAIK there's no adjustment for that. But I would look to see why. Maybe the whole capping station is out of position?
I presume the head is seated properly.

As for the fuzzy print - have you looked at and cleaned the encoder strip?

I see you have tried the drop position adjustment.
Is it out much? There is a more major adjustment available in the service menu
 

MurphyPrinter

New Member
I think the test print looks okay.
The cap isn't lining up to the underside of the head well. Strangely, it's out in the north south direction, not east/west (Y axis).
AFAIK there's no adjustment for that. But I would look to see why. Maybe the whole capping station is out of position?
I presume the head is seated properly.

As for the fuzzy print - have you looked at and cleaned the encoder strip?

I see you have tried the drop position adjustment.
Is it out much? There is a more major adjustment available in the service menu
Thank you for the reply. I have tried to wipe off the encoder strip but nothing changed. I do have a little ink on it by the capping station, do you think that would throw the whole thing off?

I have tried the service adjust and still nothing.

Are you sure it’s the head is off in the feed direction? The ghosting of lines only shows on the edge of colors changing on the print, it does not show in the middle of a solid color
 

Zoogee World

Domed Promotional Product Supplier
Just to narrow things down a bit, have you tried printing blocks of each color (CMYK) and having it set to just print pure for each and seeing if one color has it opposed to all. I don't know if you can on Mimaki like you can on Roland, but can you print a service mode test print with the more precise smaller bar to see if there is some other defects. Although the head doesn't appear to have any significant damage, if it's old enough it could be just be starting to go, but that regular nozzle test print looks fine, so I might be lead to believe there is something else at play, almost looks like a static issue. Have you tried other medias and do they look any differently then this?
 

MurphyPrinter

New Member
Just to narrow things down a bit, have you tried printing blocks of each color (CMYK) and having it set to just print pure for each and seeing if one color has it opposed to all. I don't know if you can on Mimaki like you can on Roland, but can you print a service mode test print with the more precise smaller bar to see if there is some other defects. Although the head doesn't appear to have any significant damage, if it's old enough it could be just be starting to go, but that regular nozzle test print looks fine, so I might be lead to believe there is something else at play, almost looks like a static issue. Have you tried other medias and do they look any differently then this?
Thank you for the reply, I have tried to test print blocks of pure coloured ink and it still gives the same ghosting on the sides of each block. I have not seen a feature to do a whole test print like you mentioned for Mimaki. I have used other media’s before and they were doing the same thing. Some how I fixed it back a year ago but i swear it was from a drop pos adjustment. Now nothing seems to change. I have recently bought a humidifier because my office space is a little dry but I didn’t see any difference. This media was printing good a couple weeks ago, this issue has only happened after I did a drop pos adjustment. Not it seems like every time I do one the values change and the print quality after does not get better.
 

Zoogee World

Domed Promotional Product Supplier
Thank you for the reply, I have tried to test print blocks of pure coloured ink and it still gives the same ghosting on the sides of each block. I have not seen a feature to do a whole test print like you mentioned for Mimaki. I have used other media’s before and they were doing the same thing. Some how I fixed it back a year ago but i swear it was from a drop pos adjustment. Now nothing seems to change. I have recently bought a humidifier because my office space is a little dry but I didn’t see any difference. This media was printing good a couple weeks ago, this issue has only happened after I did a drop pos adjustment. Not it seems like every time I do one the values change and the print quality after does not get better.
Understood. I haven't used a Mimaki, so wasn't sure if it had that other nozzle test in the service menu like it does on my Roland's. How old is that head and do you know how many hits it has on it. Maybe it is end of life, but from that nozzle test, it looks pretty good, so it's hard to believe it's that.
 

MurphyPrinter

New Member
Understood. I haven't used a Mimaki, so wasn't sure if it had that other nozzle test in the service menu like it does on my Roland's. How old is that head and do you know how many hits it has on it. Maybe it is end of life, but from that nozzle test, it looks pretty good, so it's hard to believe it's that.
I unfortunately do not know the head age, It may be original, I bought the printer off a guy who was retiring and closing his business. I have suspicion that it could be the black part of the head going because ever since I got it the black never seem to print perfect or near perfect. Small fonts and prints would come blurry in black. I was fine with this because I do mostly large prints but this double line ghosting is new and I would be content just to solve this issue. I have been told to replace the encoder strip. But like it’s everywhere on the media this is happening, does the encoder strip cause issues throughout if say the starting portion is damaged?
 

Zoogee World

Domed Promotional Product Supplier
It could, but not guaranteed. It would be the cheaper option though, might be worth trying.
 

MurphyPrinter

New Member
It could, but not guaranteed. It would be the cheaper option though, might be worth trying.
Just ordered a new, I am still new to owning this printer and I have not a clue about a lot of things. I just went back to my office today. It turns out that my climate was way off. it was way too hot and humidity was way to low. I have yet to print but I did a drop pos and the marks are 50% easier to read. I also found out that a couple of springs were off. One spring holding the nozzle wash tube was off causing an issue with the capping station. This may have caused the other spring which is under the capping station to come off. After an hour or so of swearing and hurting my fingers I was able to get both springs back into place. LOL Wish me luck that this thing prints better now
 

DL Signs

Never go against the family
Just as a rule of thumb, the average lifespan of a head is around 5-ish years. Some get a lot more, some get less, depends on how well you maintain the printer, how much you print, but in my experience, that's about when they start aging out. Looks like you had multiple problems, if the capping station isn't seating correctly it'll cause the bleeding of one color to another, like in your test print, but an internal failure in the head can also cause that. Anything from dried ink on the head to low humidity can cause over-spray, as can having the head set to the "high" position when it doesn't need to be. Give the base of the carriage a good cleaning too so all that dried ink doesn't keep building up and cause more issues.
 

MurphyPrinter

New Member
Just as a rule of thumb, the average lifespan of a head is around 5-ish years. Some get a lot more, some get less, depends on how well you maintain the printer, how much you print, but in my experience, that's about when they start aging out. Looks like you had multiple problems, if the capping station isn't seating correctly it'll cause the bleeding of one color to another, like in your test print, but an internal failure in the head can also cause that. Anything from dried ink on the head to low humidity can cause over-spray, as can having the head set to the "high" position when it doesn't need to be. Give the base of the carriage a good cleaning too so all that dried ink doesn't keep building up and cause more issues.
hm okay I think the head is much older than 5 years. It is in low position right now. I did have to fix the capping station which solved my cross contamination. Did another set of head adjustments but still the dam thing has these ghost lines on the edges. If I put the printer in normal speed it gets 60% better.. I am just stumped. I am thinking maybe the head is not correctly in place because my #adjusment head pos is positive 40
 

DL Signs

Never go against the family
adjusment head pos is positive 40
If you're referring to the comp, that's about normal. I run that occasionally as part of regular maintenance, and it always ends up anywhere from high 20's to mid-high 30's on one, the other printer is around 40-ish +/- a few. It may just be aging out, and time for that new head you ordered.
 

MurphyPrinter

New Member
If you're referring to the comp, that's about normal. I run that occasionally as part of regular maintenance, and it always ends up anywhere from high 20's to mid-high 30's on one, the other printer is around 40-ish +/- a few. It may just be aging out, and time for that new head you ordered.
Ah okay, well I didn’t order the new head yet. But It may be coming up soon. It is just weird though how everything was working 95% and now it’s like 85%. I found if I print graphics sideways going with the feed the overprint/ ghosting is less noticeable in bi directional -high. Might just live with it for now. For a head purchase do you recommend and sites? I was searching and saw a head for $1200 and one for $600 on another site.
 

DL Signs

Never go against the family
Ah okay, well I didn’t order the new head yet. But It may be coming up soon. It is just weird though how everything was working 95% and now it’s like 85%. I found if I print graphics sideways going with the feed the overprint/ ghosting is less noticeable in bi directional -high. Might just live with it for now. For a head purchase do you recommend and sites? I was searching and saw a head for $1200 and one for $600 on another site.
The lower priced ones usually don't come with the head memory board, you have to remove the one from the old head and use it on the new one. Make sure your printer is compatible, they all look the same, but usually run on different voltages to match each printer brand/ model. If you go that route, be very gentle swapping the memory board so you don't damage the new head installing it. I usually get new ribbon cables when I replace heads too, some come with them, some don't. Better to not have the potential to short anything out by using old crusty ones. I usually go with genuine OEM heads, there are cheap heads out there, but many are Chinese knockoffs, and you get what you pay for. Yes, it's an investment, but you get another 5+ years of printing to recoup the cost.
 

DonutSlinger

Premium Subscriber
I had fuzzy prints once, did a bi-directional adjustment and it fixed it. That looks like the issue here because the blurring happens in one direction only.
 
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